How Bangladesh Barred Travel To Israel With A Passport Clause

Amid public anger against Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip in Bangladesh, the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government has barred its citizens from travelling to the Jewish state. The Bangladesh government has reintroduced the "except Israel" inscription on its passports, which was removed by the Sheikh Hasina government in 2021, at a time when Israel was being censured globally for its attacks in Gaza.

Bangladesh's Home Ministry issued a directive asking the passport and immigration department to reinstate the sentence "THIS PASSPORT IS VALID FOR ALL COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD EXCEPT ISRAEL" in the official travel permits for citizens visiting abroad, the state-run BSS news agency reported.

"We issued the letter (directive) on April 7," Nilima Afroze, Deputy Secretary of Home Ministry's Security Services Division, told the news agency.

Bangladesh's 'Except Israel' Policy

Older Bangladeshi passports used to contain a sentence-- "This passport is valid for all the countries of the world except Israel." It was dropped in 2021 during the Awami League government led by now-deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina. The authorities at that time said it had not changed its position towards Israel, but the phrase was dropped from the passport to maintain international standards of the document.

"No one from Bangladesh can visit Israel", and if anyone does, "legal action will be taken against that person," the AK Abdul Momen, the country's foreign minister at the time, told Al Jazeera. 

However, after the change, Bangladeshi nationals were allowed to travel to Israel from a third country if they could obtain a visa, as none of the 17 Legal Acts governing South Asian nation's immigration rules could impose a bar on travel. 

Anti-Israel Protest In Bangladesh

The disclosure, however, came a day after thousands of protesters rallied in Dhaka to condemn Israeli actions in the Gaza Strip, carrying hundreds of Palestinian flags and chanting slogans like "Free, Free Palestine." 

The main protest was held in central Dhaka's Suhrawardy Udyan near the premier Dhaka University, and many among them beat the images of US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing them of backing Israel.

Former prime minister Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party and right-wing Islamic groups and parties expressed solidarity with the rally. 

Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority nation of 170 million people, maintains no diplomatic relations with Israel, and it officially supports an independent Palestine.